Lewis Andrews/ Summer Issue

Lewis Andrews moved to Leeds in 2016 to study a BA(Hons) in Fine Art at Leeds Arts University. After graduating in 2019, Lewis continues to work in Leeds. In 2022, Lewis completed his Postgraduate Fine Arts Degree also at Leeds Arts University, graduating with a Masters Degree in the Creative Arts. During his Master’s Degree, Lewis’s practice became deeply focused on the methodology of translating information and data from sources within science into artworks. Lewis has continued to work and build upon this method in his work constructing a theory of working called ‘The Informative Encounter’.

Since 2019, Lewis has participated in 100+ exhibitions across the UK and internationally with many notable achievements. Lewis held his first solo show '186,000mi/s' whilst studying at Leeds Arts University in 2018 at Wharf Chambers, Leeds, UK. Lewis was one of the artists picked to participate in the Aon Community Art Awards program 2019 running through 2021 with his oceanic sublime photography work displayed in Aon Headquarters, London. In November 2020, Lewis was selected to participate in the Mayes Creative Watching the Sun: Virtual Residency alongside other artists with an interest in astronomy and ancient astrology. Lewis participated in two more virtual arts science residences with Mayes Creative. work from the residency was included in a publication that now resides within the Royal Astronomy Society Archive. Lewis joined Mayes Creative once again for their January 2024 residency in the Cot Valley, Cornwall, UK. Lewis has formed strong relations with the Brazilian art organisation Artlymix and the Georgian-based gallery Collect Art. As of present, Lewis has featured in 16+ exhibitions with Artlymix in Sao Paulo, Brazil and 12+ of Collect Art's publications & Digital exhibitions as of July 2024 to name a few of his achievements.

'Beacons of the Cosmos' touches on the death dance between a star and a companion white dwarf star undergoing a kind of supernova known as a Type 1a Supernova or SN Ia. These occur when two stars are born close together. Spending their lives in simultaneous orbits around each other. Eventually, the star with the smaller mass becomes a white dwarf star after blowing away its outer layers. However, the White dwarf will begin to attract matter from the ageing companion star. This matter, predominately in the form of Hydrogen, begins to accumulate on the White Dwarf's surface and slowly becomes denser and hotter. When this reaches 10 million degrees and hits 1.4 times the mass of the sun (the limit for any White Dwarf), then nuclear fusion begins again. Only this time, it's like detonating a hydrogen bomb that's trillions of times more violent, blowing the White Dwarf apart.

These violent deaths, however, have proven incredibly useful in our exploration of the cosmos. SN Ia's are the most luminous kind of supernova. Able to be viewed across billions of light-years. The second, due to the limit for a white dwarf being 1.5 times the mass of the Sun, they all attain very similar energy outputs and fade at the same rate once reaching their maximum brightness. This is why they are used in a way which makes them the 'Standard Candles' of the cosmos. By using this method, we can calculate the distance to a Type 1a supernova compared to another from Earth based on its brightness.  In turn, this allowed accurate measurement taking of distant Type 1a's and then allowed even more contributions to science. By using Type 1a's and various formulas, equipment and the Hubble Space Telescope, it was found that the most distant Type 1a was fainter than expected. This implied the supernova was further than where it was meant to be. Contributing to the evidence that something was expanding the universe a bit more rapidly than expected. 'Dark Energy' was the only culprit that fit the facts. However, it was due to the use of 'Standard Candles' of the cosmos which allowed more evidence to contribute towards this theory. Type 1a's truly are the Beacons of the Cosmos.